Back during giveaway #9 I asked for you to tell me which designers or yarns you might like to see on the blog in the future. I had a follower contact me by email and suggest this week's sponsor, so I knew this yarn had to be good. I'm very happy to announce that this week's yarn giveaway is Scout's Swag hand dyed yarn!

Jamie aka Scout is the owner and lady behind this beautiful yarn line. If you have not visited her site yet, you have to check it out. She offers amazing hand dyed yarns and each colorway is so unique - not to mention the yarn is so squish-i-licious! Here is Jamie's interview:

1. Jamie you are the owner, photographer and indie dyer of Scout's Swag hand dyed yarns. Why don't you start by introducing yourself and telling us a little about who you are and what you do?

I am Jamie aka Scout, owner of Scout’s Swag & scout j photography. I started Scout’s Swag five years ago because I seemed to always sort of be in the know about the cool knitting and crochet swag that was out there in the craft world and decided I might as well sell it all instead of just telling everyone to go buy it from other people! I had a number of friends who were running their own Indie businesses and I wanted to be able to work with them and help support their businesses so it was a win/win situation for everyone involved. I’m also a mom of two kiddos who are 8 & 11 and keep me extremely busy on top of everything else. The other endeavor on which I am currently working is a how-to book on dyeing fiber with Melanie Falick of STC Crafts. The publishing date is the spring of 2012.

2. How did you get into hand dyeing yarns?

In the fall of 2002, I believe it was the first issue of knitty.com, there was an article on dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid and it inspired me to dye my first batch of yarn. I had fun with it, but hated how the yarn smelled afterwards and didn’t love how muted the yarn turned out. I didn’t play with dyeing again for a few years until I got a book on dyeing, some un-dyed yarn and some dyes in a swap. I played around a few times with a friend until I got the colors I liked and was immediately hooked. This was when the sock craze had started and I just wasn’t finding the bright, vibrant colors with which I wanted to knit. I took a few pictures of the yarn I had dyed, posted it on my blog and I had readers who asked if they could buy it! Who knew five years later I would be writing a book on dyeing yarn!?

3. You have a beautiful selection of colorways that you offer. How do you come up with the names for your colors?

I have probably named about half of the colorways and the people who custom ordered it name the rest. I like to get my customers and friends involved when it comes to naming my colorways. It’s more fun! For example, my friend Christy named, Damn Debris, Run Like Hell, Blue Roof and Storm Surge for a Hurricane Sock Party she organized. Those names still crack me up! When I name them myself I’m usually inspired by a picture or something I’ve seen and then that takes on the name. Like the colorway I just did for my April Yarn Club is called Eureka. I was on a trip to Colorado and saw this beautiful frozen stream by the Eureka mine. I dyed up a colorway to match the stream and the name was born!

4. You also have beautiful photography on your sites. What came first? The love of photography or yarn?

Photography actually came first. I have a picture my father took and developed in his own dark room of my mother pregnant with me. I grew up with a darkroom and have always loved taking pictures. When trying to sell yarn it’s extremely important to be able to accurately represent your yarn and colorways as best as possible so it’s a bonus for me that I’m able to do it myself and not have to hire a photographer to do that for me! But I will say that I’ve also knit my whole life too. I grew up ski racing in Vermont where almost all little girls learn how to knit ski hats.

5. What's next for Scout's Swag? Do you have any new colors in the works?

I’ve been so busy working on the book and keeping up with my bi-monthly yarn club (starts up April of every year) that I haven’t been able to really play too much with new colorways for the shop. However, I’ve fallen in love with immersion dyeing and the semi-solids I create with that technique. I need to post more pictures of the yarn I’ve dyed recently! They are super pretty.

6. What do you currently have on the needles?

I had a really good run there for a while during the winter cranking out a few of the Wood Hollow hats by Kirsten/Through the loops. I made one for my husband and then my daughter and then cast on one for my son……and there it sits about 3 rows into it. Seems like that’s how my knitting goes. I hate knitting once it gets warm.

7. Do you have any hidden talents or super powers? These could of course be hidden knitting talents of super powers.

Hahahaa! Oh how I wish!

8. What's your worst knitting or yarn dyeing disaster?

I don’t think I’ve really had one! I’m sort of one of those, measure twice cut once type of people. However, the one thing that could be considered a disaster is when I’ve dyed a skein, left it out to dry and it gets so tangled that I can’t even use it. Nothing frustrates me more than having to toss an entire skein of yarn especially when it’s a custom job!!!

I will admit that recently when I test knit the Wood Hollow hat I didn’t follow the directions very well and didn’t do repeat the cable part 3 times and almost got through all of the decreases before whining to Kirsten about how short it looked. I hated having to frog back through all of the decreases but I did! It ended up working out but I almost just tossed the whole project. I don’t have a lot of patience sometimes. HA!

9. If you could live and knit anywhere in the world, where would you knit and live?

See that’s hard for me because I like it to be cold when I knit but I hate the cold!!! I can do socks and small projects on the beach but the sand bothers me! So…..hum. I would still go with the beach somewhere. I need to travel to a few more beaches before I could answer this question!!

10. And last but not least, if you were to be drinking a cocktail while reading my blog, what would it be?

Right now? I’d say either a dirty martini with three olives or a vodka tonic with lime! I used to be a Cosmopolitan girl until I realized how many calories they were!

Jamie, thank you for taking the time to answer the Q's! Scout's Swag is generously sponsoring the chance for TWO winners to win a skein of 100% Merino Wool fingering weight hand dyed yarn. Each skein boasts 400 yards! Look at the beautiful colorways

Here are some up close shots of these beauties:

color: Eureka delux

color: Illini

I would like you to do the following if you would like to be entered into this week's giveaway:

1) Have an address in the US to ship the yarn to. If you have a friend or relative that has a US mailing address who is willing to be your shipping sponsor, that will work as well. I will send it to them and they can then forward it on to you.

2) Post a comment on this blog post by the end of Sunday, 5/16/2010, telling us which Scout's Swag colorway is your favorite. Visit the gallery, and come back to leave a comment here telling us which color you like. My fav is Daisies in case you were curious! ;)

3) Please post only one comment to give everyone a fair chance.

Again, I'll randomly pick the winners on Sunday and post the results on Monday along with the new giveaway, so be sure to check back. Good luck everyone.

189 comments:

I thought of butterflies, too, when I saw that Illini colorway--gorgeous! I've seen some great colorways created from Kool-aid, but tried a more natural approach with turmeric, with some interesting results!

I have to admit, I really like the Illini. My dad went to college there! It's always funny to watch him try to cheer for a Mizzou vs. Illini game (my sister and I go to Mizzou) because he never knows who to cheer for.

Snowbunny is also another favorite. I've always been a fan of chocolate brown and light blue together!

So beautiful! My fingers are itching to try some! Plus one of my favorite cousins is an Illini and I promised to make him some winter gear before he goes back in the fall, and this colorway would be perfect!

Wow! Hard to choose. It's funny how the names of the yarns have a tendency to influence my decision -- something I don't pay attention to when I'm in my LYS. If I had to choose today, I would pick up the Eureka in a heartbeat and, then the Hunker Down.Thanks for the chance for some of this luscious yarn.

How to pick just one favorite? I tried writing just one down, but came up with a list of at LEAST 8 colorways! If I had to choose, though, I really like H.F.S./Smores - great color combination! And who can resist a food-inspired colorway! lol

I like the Eureka deluxe - beautiful - but then again the sockoberfest is lovely, too...power couples...mmmm....too many to choose from...Thanks for the opportunity to see some new yarns I'm not familiar with...and of course to win something, too...

All the colorways are so beautiful, but my favorite would be Northern Lights. The color combo is gorgeous. It is now on my for future purchase list. Just as soon as I finish the rest of my stash...could be awhile.